


Stand By Me

by Chronicles_of_Scout



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Kalex, Red Lantern
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-27 08:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16699195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chronicles_of_Scout/pseuds/Chronicles_of_Scout
Summary: It will feel like a pinch at first.  Alex had warned.  A slight little pinprick, just enough to get your attention but Kara, when it does get your attention, the fire will be like nothing you’ve ever known.It will feel like a sledgehammer; like someone shoved a hot poker in you and is holding it in place with the front end of a semi.  You’ll feel like you can’t breathe.  Kara, I need you to promise me you’ll breathe.Or Kara accepts a Red Lantern Ring.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, I have finished it. 
> 
> I know, I know. I said I was done writing for awhile; that I was taking a vacation. My brain doesn't understand what 'break' means... It makes me sad.
> 
> This 3 part episode will be posted today, tomorrow, and Friday. To give you a nice heap of angst during the Holiday Season. I'm considerate like that.
> 
> Heavy references to the comics (insomuchasIwatchedavideoofRedLanternKaracauseIdidn'twannaread)
> 
> Anyway, here goes part 1.

_It will feel like a pinch at first._ Alex had warned. _A slight little pinprick, just enough to get your attention but Kara, when it does get your attention, the fire will be like nothing you’ve ever known._

Gasping, Kara blinked against the harsh fluorescent lighting above her.Burning papers fluttered down from the ceiling, and shadows swayed where the lights swung back and forth from a stubborn cable.She lay in a pile of rubble, an overturned desk to her right and busted windows blowing a cold breeze into the room.Her chest _burned,_ and she struggled to pull air passed the fire in her lungs.

_It will feel like a sledgehammer; like someone shoved a hot poker in you and is holding it in place with the front end of a semi.You’ll feel like you can’t breathe.Kara, I need you to promise me you’ll **breathe**._

There was an acrid taste of metal in her mouth and she raised a shaky hand to most intense spot of pain near her ribs, her fingers coming away sticky and red.Well, that answered that question.How in the world had she been shot?What had happened? __

_If you’re going to put on that suit then I need you to be prepared for that.Bullets will bounce off of you until they don’t.I need you to be ready for the ‘until’.I need you to come **home**._

Reign.

Reign had come.Had set them up.

The sound of gunfire echoed behind her, people screaming.She had to help.She had to—

_I’ll go when you go honey._ Alex had pressed their heads together, the moment all the more intimate for their closeness. _If you’re heart’s beating, then my hearts beating.Keep it beating for me._

Kara wiped her mouth, the brief moment of nausea passing and leaving behind a mess of vomit and blood on the floor below her.Her arm shook where she leaned on it, but she used the last of her diminishing strength to push herself to her knees.

At first, she’s relieved; the distinct thought of ‘oh, there she is’ entering her sluggish brain.And then, slowly, she realizes why that might not be such a good thing.

A few feet away from her Alex lays under a pile of bodies, unmoving.Heart clenching in panic, Kara stumbles over, pulling at bullet ridden flak jackets to reach Alex’s still form.Her foster sister’s chest isn’t moving and because of the battle sounds from the hall, Kara can’t isolate her heartbeat.She shoves her face at Alex’s chest instead, her closeness allowing her to hear the resounding stillness; the absolute nothing.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

_If you ever can’t hear my heart, just touch my neck or my wrist.That’s the best place to feel for my pulse.A pulse means life.You can touch me whenever you want, whenever you need._

Kara fumbles with Alex’s neck, fingers searching for a pulse like Alex had taught her.Nothing.

There’s—

No.

_No._

Kara grabs Alex’s flak jacket, shaking her and screaming incoherently into her face.A part of her yells at herself to try CPR while the other part quickly reminds her that Alex had said CPR was useless for a dead heart.There had to be some sort of activity for it to work.

_You can’t bring the dead back to life Kara.If someone’s gone, they’re gone._

NO.

“Wake up!Alex, you promised!” She screeched, Alex’s face remaining still while Kara’s crumpled and pinched in grief and rage the likes of which she hadn’t felt since Krypton.“My hearts beating Alex!It’s beating!Come back.You get back here _right now.”_

_I love you Kara, I’m just not sure if I’m **in** love with you.Kara can we just **talk?** I want to explain.We can figure this out, I promise._

Kara sobs hysterically, face remarkably dry despite the fact that she feels like she’s on the verge of a mental collapse.This wasn’t right.Something was wrong.She could fix this.She could—

A woman carefully pries the door open to the room she is in.Not DEO.Not Cadmus.

A Kryptonian.

One of Selina’s witches.

Kara stares at her in confusion for a moment before her brain catches up with her.

A witch.

She had done this.

Her and her team of idiotic, like minded, _bigots._

_She had taken Alex from her._

**_Yes._ **

Kara startles at the same time the witch notices her and shouts something to her fellow team mates.There’s a voice she hadn’t recognized in her head and a glowing red ring hovering in front of her face.

**_Yes,_** it says, **_they took her.You should make them pay for it.I will help you Kara Zor-El.I will bring you absolution._**

Yeah.

Yeah, that sounded good.

The witch fired her heat vision at the same time Kara’s hand closed around the ring.

**Make her pay for it!**

She’d make them all pay.

_It will feel like a pinch at first.You’ll feel like you can’t breathe.Kara, I need you to promise me you’ll **breathe.**_

_~*~_

Kara was having a grand old time.

As far as parties went, this was one hell of a rave!

Her eyes greedily took in the destruction around her, floating above a burning city as people screamed in terror.

**_Yes_** _._ The ring whispered, **_they should fear you.They’re idiocy has cost you, it is time for them to pay._**

It had been child’s play to take out the witches, their bodies now barely recognizable blood bags that she’d left scattered throughout the city.Unfortunately, it had felt decidedly like having a snack when you were starving.All that healing had taken a lot of energy and now the Ring wanted more; craved more.And so, Kara did too.

Hearing people scream, creating chaos- it fueled her.Made her stronger.This went beyond anything she had ever felt before in her life.This was power; undiluted, in its purest form.With her heritage and this Ring, she was unstoppable.

Untouchable.

Unhurtable.

Chest heaving in excited anger, Kara allowed her heat vision to take out a Billboard of Lena Luthor.Lena who had protected Reign for _weeks_ ; who had kept her alive long enough for her to be able to take Alex away.

Lena who had offered her friendship only to snatch it back at the first test of _Kara’s_ loyalty.

**_How many times did you defend her?Stand by her side?Rescue her from certain doom?_ **

Dozens.

**_Hundreds,_** the voice countered **, _every time you saved the world, you saved her as well.These humans have no loyalty except in fear.They want you to know pain?To know suffering?Make them pay for their wish._**

Kara howled, her heat vision erupting in wide arcs as she spun in the middle of National City.Bullets peppered her suit but they bounced harmlessly off of the red shield the ring cast around her.

Until they didn’t.

Until one green slug pierced her in her shoulder from behind.

She scowled down at the smoking wound, eyes alight with her ire.

The DEO had gotten rid of all of their Kryptonite and Superman had taken away the rest.Which left…

Lena Luthor.

Kara’s old friend.

Time to pay her a visit.

She was in Lena’s office in a matter of seconds, the CEO of L-Corp steadily holding a handgun on her while speaking hurriedly into the phone.

“Hello Lena.”Kara’s voice was distorted—layered by the red ring that had slid so easily onto her finger.“How are you today?”

Lips trembling slightly, Lena managed a careless shrug.“I’ve been better.”She swiped her thumb over the phone, placing it carefully on her desk while keeping her focus on Kara.“You should know that that was the President; she’s sending a full contingent of soldiers to take you out.”

Humming, Kara sped over to Lena and knocked the gun out of her hand, her fingers trailing over her former friend’s face.“But will they be quick enough to stop me from taking _you_ out?”

“Supergirl—”

Kara wrapped her fingers around Lena’s neck, cutting off her words with the slight pressure.“Shhh.”She murmured, “you don’t have to be afraid.I was your friend once, I won’t hurt you.”

“You’re still my friend.”Lena said desperately, forcing her words past the vice grip on her throat.“You don’t have to do this.”

“No taksies backsies Lena,” tsked Kara let her eyes wander over the woman’s pale frame, trying to decide the least painful but creative way to do this.“You already told me I was never your friend—”

“To Supergirl.”Lena wheezed, “not _Kara._ ”

That brought her up short, the heat in her eyes fading slightly to show a hint of blue.

“What?”

Taking advantage of Kara’s shock, Lena slipped from her grip rubbing her throat as she tried to press her slight advantage.“I didn’t know it was you.I didn’t _know… Kara_ please.I know that you’re hurting.I know that _I_ hurt you but this isn’t you.That ring is destroying you!You have to take it off!”

Kara licked her lips, eyes pinched in confusion.Lena knew who she was?

**_Yes, and she still betrayed you.Hurt you.Now you must make her hurt.Show her what pain really is.”_ **

“Kara please.”Lena trembled, her hands up and open.“You won’t come back from this.I need my best friend.”

**_She needs you because she is afraid!Do not fall for this!_ **

Kara hesitated, her thumb feeling the emblem of the ring as she took in Lena’s scared form.She was scared.

Lena was scared.

Biting her lip, Kara took a step back.This hadn’t been what she’d wanted.She’d _wanted_ Alex.Wanted the world to pay for taking Alex from her.Wanted Alex to pay for _leaving—_

She’d promised.

**_She left you._** The Ring latched on to the new thought and Kara was once again consumed with Rage. ** _She made you a promise and she broke it.She should pay too.Everyone should.We shall burn this world to the ground until everyone knows your heart!_**

Her heart…

Kara couldn’t even feel her heart anymore.

Alex was gone.Her heart had stopped so it made sense that Kara’s had too.

She hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk to her, too busy being embarrassed to confront the woman.

Kara had realized her feelings late; hadn’t known the true depth of her love until Reign was dropping her off a roof.It hadn’t been Mon-El she’d longed for in those last moments.It had been Alex.

She’d wanted _Alex._

Brainy had been able to get through to her because he’d told her _Alex_ was waiting by her side.

And she had been, Kara’s hand held tight in hers as soon as the Kryptonian had blinked her eyes open.

So, when she’d woken up, she’d told her as much.

Not right away obviously, she’d had to deal with Reign and the League’s incompetence after but after _that_ … Well after that, she had made them dinner- cooked everything herself.All of Alex’s favorites that Eliza conveniently forgot to bring when she stopped over.

There had been candles and Kara had put on her nice shirt; the blue sweater that Alex had said made her eyes pop and after dinner she had reached across the table and cradled Alex’s hands in hers.

And she had explained that, for years, she had harbored these feelings that she’d hardly known how to explain until completely faced with her own mortality.

It had been lame.

Unoriginally, mind-numbingly lame.

Face death and realize that you’re in love with your foster sister.Who was she Iris West?

She’d stuttered and fumbled, trying not to rip the sleeves of her sweater in her anxiety.

And Alex had just stared at her.

She hadn’t said a word; just stared.

It had been awkward, and heartbreaking and soul crushing and Kara had wished for a convenient coma to occur.Where was Reign when you needed her, amiright?

Luckily Kara had had no choice but to leave as a gunman released the safety on his weapon nearly 20 blocks away. Not that she had been listening in for any emergencies that needed her attention so she could sneak away.No way.She wasn’t _that_ much of a coward…She was.

She’d been in time to stop the massacre.She hadn’t made it back in time to stop Alex.

They hadn’t spoken since.

Alex had reached out a few times after, a voicemail being her final attempt but Kara had been too mortified to show her face.

That had been what… two days ago now?The call had come in while she’d been listening (re: spying) in on Alex and had heard the agent at the alien bar, drunk off her ass and being chatted up by some Charlize Theron wannabe.

Literally; it was a shapeshifter who transformed themselves into Charlize Theron.

Nauseating.

Except Alex hadn’t said no.Alex had let the woman touch her, kiss her—

The call from the DEO had interrupted both of their nights; Sam’s condition was taking a turn for the worse and J’onn was concerned that it was a sign the Witches were trying something new.Kara knows now that it had been a trap.That Reign had already been resurrected by that point and had used her connection to Sam to draw them all into one place.Like fish in a barrel.

She remembers the bullet; a pin prick just like Alex had said.

It had felt like she couldn’t breathe.

And then the next thing she knew she was waking up and Alex was dead.

The Ring had promised her vengeance; had floated into her hand and attached itself to her and Kara hadn’t been able to feel that hurt since.

Until now.

Until Lena.

Lena who’d said they weren’t friends.

She’d _said._

Kara had heard her.

She had no one.

Alex was dead.

Lena had lied.

Winn was leaving.

She was losing everything.

Her home.

Her family.

Alex.

Her fingers white knuckled her temples, hair pulling roughly at her scalp as she tried to get a hold of her thoughts.The last of the person known as Kara Danvers fighting for her autonomy against the Ring.

Alex wouldn’t want this, it reminded her; Earth was her _home_ and Kara was destroying it.

Lena was her friend.

Alex was dead.

She had her friends.

Lena hated her.

Alex wouldn’t want this.

Winn was leaving.

Lena was _sorry_.

Alex…

She’d left.

She was gone.

No.

_No._

She screamed, the force of her anger blowing Lena back into the far wall as Kara exploded out of the window, glass shattering on the concrete below as she allowed the Ring to take over again.

They wouldn’t leave her.

She wouldn’t let them.

**_They couldn’t leave if there was nowhere to go,_** the ring taunted, making Kara smile.

Her blood roared, its fire destroying the confusion and the _want_ that had come over Kara in those precious few seconds before she’d blasted out of the L-Corp building.The ring was intent on finding something else to destroy.Something that wouldn’t poke holes in her brain; something that wouldn’t—

Ah.

They would do very nicely.

The tank that had been rolling up to L-Corp was thrown across the vast lawn, Kara bending the nose of the gun back and basically punting the vehicle like a football.She laughed as it crashed through the L-Corp logo.Three points.

The humans took aim on her and she rolled her eyes, her annoyance increasing ten-fold when she saw one human run out in front of the rest.

That human threw herself between Kara and the army.

The idiot.

It took another second for the human’s heartbeat to register before Kara realized that that was _her_ idiot.

She dropped from the sky, landing a few meters away from Alex in shocked confusion.

Alex Danvers.

It was impossible.

She was dead.

Her heart had been _still._

**_She left you._** The ring snarled, **_she never wanted you.She wanted to be alone.When she saw you for what you were, feelings and all she turned away.She thought you were disgusting!She faked her death to get away from you.You should show her the vastness of space._**

No.Kara thought.Alex would _never_ do that.She would never make Kara think she was alone… 

But then why…

The ring seethed, urging her to take her vengeance, to cut Alex down where she stood.

It was the easiest thing to resist.

As much of a jerk as Alex had been about Kara’s confession, she was still _Alex_.She was Kara’s… everything.Kara wouldn’t hurt her.

Not ever.

The army didn’t have those qualms.

Superman zoomed in out of nowhere, landing in front of them and screaming at the men.

“Hold your fire!She’s not attacking you!Hold your fire!”

Of course, they didn’t listen.Men in uniforms always had a hard time listening to anyone who wasn’t.

Kara sped in front of Alex, wrapping her body around her as they unleashed a barrage of bullets on the DEO agent. She was dimly aware of her cousin launching himself at the guns, unarming the men with relative ease while she took on the duty of protecting her human.

Alex tucked herself into Kara, the same way she had when they were kids and Kara would take them flying.Or when they would come across a particularly nasty alien and Alex would prefer Kara get slimed than her.

Alex had always trusted Kara to take care of her.

Which is why she probably looked so shocked when she got hit, something hot getting past Kara and lodging itself in her chest.

Muscle, collarbone, lung.

Which… shouldn’t have been possible.Kara was invulnerable _and_ she was employing the shield generated by the ring.Nothing should have been able to…

She looked up, her cousin staring at her with a shocked expression.

“Kara…”

She snapped her head to the side, where the projectile had come from and saw Hal Jordan floating there with a distraught expression, Batman behind him in one of his stupid cars.

And next to them both…

Reign.The devil reincarnated.

Her eyes still glowing red from her heat vision, a taunting smirk on her upturned lips.

Kara screamed.

The men and women who had been shooting were thrown back at the shockwaves of her fury, her heat vision sending them all running for cover as her grief was unleashed without restraint.

The pavement below her caved and rippled, rumbling and cracking at the power that exuded from the Kryptonian’s body.

**_Yes!Show them what they have done!Make them pay!Kill them Kara Zor-El!Burn this world to the ground!_ **

A helicopter circled overhead, the automatic weapon puttering away as it tried to end Kara.Some of the bullets—Kryptonite bullets—even got through.She felt them burn her flesh.Felt them heal near instantly; the Ring pulling them metal out of her body as quickly as it entered.

Ridiculous.

**_We are way passed that now,_** the Ring cooed.

Kara’s eyes lit up and she would have obliterated the damn thing if Alex hadn’t touched a bloodied hand to her face.

“The Ring,” she stuttered, breaths labored and gasping.“You have to take it off Kara.Please.I need you.I need you here with me.I’m sorry I ran; you told me how you felt and I ran away.I let this happen to you.”

Kara panted, trying to contain the rage boiling under her skin as she pressed her forehead to Alex’s, cradling her close to her chest.“It’s ok.”Her voice trembled with effort.“It’s fine Alex.”

Even though she could see how not fine this was.She was going to lose her _again_.The most important being in her life was going to die.Again.

“I’ll fight for you Kara.”Alex was saying, her quivering fingers moving to Kara’s jaw.“If your heart is beating, then my heart is beating.You have to get it off.”

Reign chose that moment to attack her, no longer held back by the Dark Knight or the Green Lantern, both men having been summarily defeated by the Worldkiller.

The _idiot_.

It was just as well.

Kara needed something to _hurt._

They met in the middle, Reign throwing a blow that would have been devastating if Kara had been there to receive it. Instead the blonde flew past her, Alex cradled protectively to her chest.

She’d had her powers longer than Reign, knew how they worked.She could outfly her easy.

Kara had more important things to attend to.

A small crater was created when she landed in the ER, placing Alex gently on a gurney as the medical staff and patients backed away in fear.She pressed a kiss to her human’s cheek and pulled away, ready to confront Reign before she could attack the hospital.

Alex grabbed her arm before she could fully leave.“My heart… your heart Ka—”

The agent’s face pinched in pain, breath rattling precariously in her chest as nurses swarmed her bedside.It seemed their fear of Kara would not diminish their need to save lives.

Try.

Try to save lives.

Kara wouldn’t stay to listen to her die.

To listen to her leave.

Not again.

She needed to get as far away as possible; somewhere outside of hearing distance.She wouldn’t feel it if she couldn’t _feel_ it.

The twisted logic sent her hurtling out the door, flying past the annoying gnat known as Reign and out into the night sky.There were no bullets up here, nothing that could stop her.If she gave herself up to the ring, she could be free of pain.

This _hurt._ This was torture.

But she had promised Alex, hadn’t she?

_I need you to promise me you’ll **breathe.**_

Which meant surviving without the Ring; it meant honoring Alex’s last wish.

_It will feel like a sledgehammer._

The Ring rebelled against her thoughts of freedom; it had found the perfect host and it would destroy it before it gave it up.

Kara grimaced as she broke through the cloud cover, body aching as she tried to reclaim herself.

The Ring wanted to end something?The Worldkiller would come first in Kara’s book.

When Reign finally caught up with her, they were well into the stratosphere.Reign knocked Kara down with a hammer like blow to her head, and Kara let her, the ring absorbing most of the impact.It gave her just enough of the element of surprise to grab Reign’s overconfident form and take her the rest of the way into space.

Like she had with Fort Rozz.

Except this time there would be no Alex to bring her back.

The flaw?

Worldkillers apparently did not have the same problem that Kryptonian’s had, which was to say that they could easily breathe in space and fly.Kara hadn’t counted on that, so when Reign easily slid from her grasp, and kneed her in the stomach, her pain was real.

Due to the Red Ring, she also retained her powers so at the least it was a fair fight.

A short battle commenced, where Kara gave the Ring complete control, hoping that the two super powers would tire each other out.Their hits sounded like detonations, the deafening sounds of power hurtful to even Kara’s ears.Reign swooped in low, and Kara flipped over her, creating a lasso with the Ring and putting Reign in a full body bind.

The Ring crowed in glee as all of Kara’s rage and pain erupted from her eyes in a blinding flash of heat vision, the red wave devouring the Worldkiller; Reign’s echoing screams resounding throughout the galaxy.

Now alone in the starry abyss of space, Kara allowed herself a moment of respite.

She was exhausted.

Not physically.Physically she had never felt better.But emotionally.

She was so tired.

She wanted Alex.

Wanted to rewind all of this and just go back to when she could cuddle with Alex on her couch.She’d take their sister relationship over this pain any day.

This was excruciating.

**_Who’s next?_ **

The Ring.

Kara stared despondently at the empty husk that was once Reign.She had done that.

She’d killed someone.

The Ring wanted her to do it again.

**_We will make them pay for your pain._ **

Kara didn’t want that.

_You have to take it off Kara.I need you._

Alex.

Alex was dead.

Reign was dead.

Kara had killed her.

Kara had almost killed Lena.

She squinted at her hands, at the destruction they could cause.

Worldkiller.

Is that what she was now?

She could go back to Earth, return to the only home she had left, and then… 

Then the Ring would take away everything that was left for her.

Lena.

Winn.

Clark.

J’onn.

Eliza.

James.

Vasquez.

Lucy.

Alex…

Alex was gone.

Kara couldn’t lose anyone else.

Inhaling slowly, Kara took in her surroundings, eyes seeking out the soft glow that was coming from the stars.They were so beautiful.It was beautiful up here.Earth looked like the glass globe Alex kept in her study, the one she liked to spin around when she was thinking through a problem.

Kara wished she could have seen this; wished she could have shared this with Alex.Shown her the beauty of the world she so loved.

She exhaled.

Began.

The Kryptonian grasped the Ring with her right hand, pulling with all of her might and letting out a groan of frustration when it didn’t budge.Huffing she tried again.

And again.

Again.

She howled in rage while the Ring crackled, her anger only fueling its power.The pain was gone as quickly as it had come, the Ring healing her once she had submitted to its will.Kara panted, glaring daggers at the inky black sky.So.This was her fate.

**_We are one now Kara Zor-El.I have seen your heart.It belongs to me._ **

Before Kara could dwell on that, or consider the repercussions, she was distracted by movement from Reign’s corpse.

No.Not from the corpse, _near_ the corpse.A dark entity slithering out from the body and turning to face Kara with clearly malicious intent.

Against the inky blackness of the sky, the thing was damn near invisible and Kara had to squint to take in it’s serpentine form.The front end, what Kara considered to be the head, tilted slightly as if in acknowledgement and caused every hair on Kara’s body to stand alert.

There was a brief standoff and then the shadow screeched and dove at her, Kara darting straight up in an attempt to dodge the attack.She had no idea what that thing was, but she knew for certain that she shouldn’t let it touch her.

_I need you to come **home.**_

There was an intense game of Cat and Mouse, but the further away from the sun she got, the more her energy drained and the remnants of Reign easily overcame her after only a few minutes.

_It will feel like a pinch at first._

This didn’t feel like a pinch, Kara thought as the darkness latched on to her ankle, so much different than a bullet this was just heat and pain.Where the essence of the Worldkiller touched, Kara knew only agony.The Ring screeched in fury and told her to fight; the Worldkiller tried to pull her back down to Earth.To consume her and finish what it had started.

_I’ll go when you go honey._

Alex.

_I love you Kara._

Alex.

Kara forced her mind to quiet; forcing out what was happening around her and finding that peaceful corner of her mind where Alex’s heartbeat still existed.It wasn’t hard, with the two super powers busy fighting for possession of Kara’s body, they had no reason to pay attention to her.In only a few short moments, what remained of the last daughter of Krypton would cease to exist and one of them would claim dominion over what was left of her.

Claim Kara’s heart.

_If your hearts beating, my hearts beating._

Alex’s heart wasn’t beating anymore, but Kara’s would always belong to her.

_The Ring Kara.You need to take it off._

Both of these _things_ wanted to destroy earth, and, although Alex was no longer alive, there were still people Kara cared about.Still people Kara remembered she loved.

Cat and Winn and Clark and J’onn and Lena and Lucy and Vasquez and James…

Lois was pregnant.

She was going to have a baby cousin.

Hands clenching into fists, Kara turned her gaze to the sun.She was still Kara Zor-El; she hadn’t been able to save Krypton had watched her people die in a planetary explosion and had vowed never to let that happen again.

She would not go back on that vow now.

Rao.

Rao, please.

Help.

The Worldkiller had made it up to her chest now and Kara wrapped an arm around it to secure it to her body.She gasped as it sunk further into her skin, feeling her _self_ diminish as it started to take over her being.

Putting everything she had into her powers of flight, Kara took off like a bullet towards the sun and pled to her deity for just a little more strength, a little more speed, a little more time.

She thrust her left fist ahead of her, using the Ring to open a hyperjump straight into the sun.

By the time the Worldkiller realized what she was doing it was too late, Kara was already too close to the dwarf star for it to escape and the Kryptonian pulled the oozing black shadow from her body with a recharged vigor.Hurling it into the middle of the Sun was tricky but Kara managed, and it was eliminated in a cloud of ash with only a screech of agony to mark its demise.

Just one more thing.One more thing she had to do, and she could rest.She could go home.

What came after that she didn’t know, but she had made a promise to Alex, so she would do it.Kara Zor-El wasn’t the one who broke promises, she was the one who got left behind.

_It will feel like a pinprick._

The Ring was in her head, it’s slimy presence filtering through her thoughts and infecting everything it touched.How had she ever thought _that_ could be a good idea?She closed her eyes and started going through irrelevant data, outdated algorithms… things she had learned in High School.Anything that was inconsequential… boring.

The Ring was uninterested.

Kara slowly smoothed her finger over the rugged band, pulling ever so gently.

_But Kara, when it does get your attention, the fire will be like nothing you’ve ever known._

The Ring clued in to what she was doing when she had it down to her first knuckle and slammed against the walls of her head in retaliation.

It challenged Kara.

Raged against her and messed with her mind so she lost her sense of direction.

It didn’t want to die.

She felt it pulling at her hand, trying to return to Earth.To Death.

No.

Even if Kara died here, she couldn’t let the Ring escape either.She had to destroy it.

Please.

Rao, please.

Her fingers wrapped around the Ring again, and she tugged with everything she had.With every ounce of love and fear and hope that her body possessed.

Please.

_It will feel like a sledgehammer; like someone shoved a hot poker in you and is holding it in place with the front end of a semi._

Please.

She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with oxygen as she made her last effort to free herself.

The ring gave, sliding millimeter by millimeter until Kara could finally take it off and launch it at the center of the sun.

It wouldn’t survive that.

Nothing could survive that.

She fought a gasp, a new pain in her chest causing her to curl up in agony.

_It will feel like you can’t breathe._

Alex.

She forced herself to straighten; to use the boost from the solar rays to hurl herself towards Earth.A journey that should have taken a few years was shortened to only minutes, Kara traveling at the speed of light and burning energy faster than she ever had.

Holding her breath for as long as she had was taking a toll on her body and mind; making her panic; making her want to open her mouth in open space.

Which was death.

_I need you to breathe, Kara._

Not yet...

_It will feel like you can’t breathe._

Tears blurred her vision, a tail of flame forming as she reentered Earth’s orbit, hair beginning to whip wildly around her face as her speed increased.

_I need you to breathe._

_I need you to come home._

Now.

She gulped air greedily, her form entering a tailspin as she lost her singular focus of getting back to Earth.On fulfilling her last promise.Then she could rest.

She blew out her powers on the way down.

Too tired to be afraid.

_I need you to come home._

Did getting back to Earth count?

She really hoped it counted; that Alex wouldn’t be too upset with the discrepancy.

_I need you to come home._

That she wouldn’t be too upset that Kara had followed her to death.

She’d kept her promise.

…it was just that she didn’t want to be abandoned again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex's POV

_Alex can almost **hear** the bad audio that is going to be on the video as Kara giggles and fidgets with her phone.She smiles never the less, her eyes still in her microscope and her hand jotting down notes on the pad next to her._

_“Ok,” Kara starts gleefully.“Video evidence commencing.GO!”_

_Shooting her sister a side glance, Alex shakes her head ruefully.“Normally I’d tell you to go away with all of that energy but today you’re going to need it.”_

_Kara spins her phone to point at herself, her body nearly **vibrating** with her excitement.“We’re pranking Winn!”She confesses near breathlessly, “he’s never going to see it coming!”_

_“I’d like to point out this was my idea.”Alex sasses as she delicately inserts the audio board into the blob of goo in front of her.“You’re just along for the ride.”_

_“Oh, I’d go anywhere with you.”Kara returned, camera back on Alex.“All you have to do is say the word.Now details please!”_

_Alex rolled her eyes.“It’s an Expandable Water Robot.”_

_“For the plebeians please.”_

_“It grows when it gets wet.”Alex said, laughing as she pulled back from the scope and loaded the pill sized goop into a slingshot.“Winn is terrified of squirrels, so this will obviously grow into a squirrel, move around, and squeak a bit.”_

_Kara’s grin is blinding and it’s like her happy glow transfers itself to Alex seamlessly.The ever-present effect of Kara’s presence makes Alex duck her head shyly and shoulder passed her sister._

_“C’mon,” she said as she held the door for the Kryptonian.“Let’s go scare the shit out of Winn.”_

When Alex comes to, she is understandably disoriented.

There’s a blonde leaning over her that she vaguely recognizes.She’s seen her before…

“Alex!Alex can you hear me?”The blonde curses and Alex sees her shoulders shift, feels a burning fire erupt in her lungs.“Dammit! Come on, come on!Work dammit!”

Her head is fuzzy, weird lights dancing behind her eyes and a coldness setting into her body.Her arms tremble and she knows she’s going into shock.

Chloe.

The name comes to her suddenly and she startles as the woman pushes harder on her chest.The woman’s name is Chloe.She works for the DEO, she’s a cybersecurity consultant for the desert base.What was she doing here?

“ _Rao,”_ someone mutters, the sound of stumbling and shifting rubble worsening the pressure in Alex’s skull.“You have to heal her Chlo!This is one person we can’t afford dying right now.”

“Gee thanks moron!That is something I DID NOT KNOW!”

Alex gasped as her ribs crunched in her abdomen, the bones grinding against each other in a less than pleasant sensation.She swallowed and tasted copper.Not good.That was not good.Where was Kara?

“J’onn said Kara accepted a Red Lantern Ring.If that’s true, then we don’t have a lot of time before it completely takes over her heart.I know I don’t need to remind you that this is probably the _only_ person in the world that can save her right now, but I’m going to say it anyway because Alex cannot die!”Clark.That was Clark.Why did he sound so whiny?“Please Chlo, I know it hasn’t worked in a while but she’s family.I don’t want Kara to lose her. _I don’t want to lose her._ ”

Chloe cursed under her breath and dug her fingers into Alex’s chest, making an inferno ignite under her skin.The pain was gone as suddenly as it had come, the swiftness of her relief the result of her fading hold on consciousness.Where was Kara?Kara always made it better; she’d help no problem.

“Listen to me assholes, I know I let that shithead Brainiac manipulate me and that you suffered because of it but I need you to get in the damn game!Please!This is a life!You can save a fucking life!”

Alex wants to thank her for trying.

There’s so much she wants to say.

There’s so much…

_Winn’s shriek is the stuff of legends!And Alex should know, she’s hung out with literal Legends.Slept with Sarah Lance.That had been fun._

_Kara hadn’t even scolded her for promiscuity.Although, to be fair, did it count as promiscuity if it was one person and you were single?Did that mean she would have to get her ‘bad girl’ badge that Cisco had given her as a gag gift revoked?_

_If so, not fair._

_Kara laughed loud and long, doubling over in laughter.Alex had had perfect aim, the Expandable ball of goo sticking to the top of Winn’s monitor and growing in size in seconds to form a squirrel.Winn had stared at it blankly for a few moments until it had tittered at him.That’s when the mayhem had begun._

_“Kara!Get it away!Get it away!”Screech, screech, wail, sob, screech, hide under the table, realize the table is still close to squirrel, do a ridiculous panicked army crawl down the steps and grab Kara’s ankles.“Please save me!Get it out of here!Don’t let it touch me!Kara!”_

_And Kara had quickly mellowed, speeding over to the squirrel and hiding it back in Alex’s lab probably, before returning to Winn danger gone._

_Alex had rolled her eyes, the big softy._

_“We’re sorry Winn, we didn’t know you were really afraid.You said strong dislike.Not terrified.We shouldn’t have pranked you, we were trying to distract you from your breakup with Lyra.With Reign and everything… we’re sorry.”_

_Winn had whimpered and sulked and that had made Kara kick Alex in the shin which had made Alex grumble her apology and then Kara had taken Winn home._

_Alex had **not** been jealous._

_I mean it wasn’t like the whole point of her endeavor had been to make Kara **happy—** get her to laugh after weeks of moping after a married man and getting her ass handed to her by her evil distant relative maybe **.** Because who in the world would want that?Not Winn obviously._

_Rude._

_Her petulant sulking had lasted all of the thirty minutes it had taken for Kara to text her and ask her to come have dinner with her when she got out of work._

_Alex had waited to proper minute and a half to text back that she wouldn’t miss it for the world._

_No way was she going to look like she’d been **waiting** Kara’s text._

_That would be weird._

She sits up with a gasp, plan already forming in her head from the small tidbits of information she can remember.Clark crows in relief next to her and engulfs her in a strong hug that makes her back creak.

“Don’t you dare break her Superman!I just got done fixing her and I don’t have another one in me!”

Chloe is slumped over, looking like she just went twelve rounds with Ali and there’s a DEO agent guarding the door.A DEO agent that looks remarkably like Vasquez.

“What’s happening?Why is the desert team here?”Alex snapped her tongue against the roof of her mouth, a tacky substance coating the interior and making her cringe.

“We got the distress alert and Agent Sullivan jimmy rigged the transportation device that Agent Schott fixed.The one that got you off that planet with the Red Sun.”Vasquez was succinct as always, which Alex appreciated but her words had barely been processed before Clark was pulling away from her.

“I need to go.”He said, his hands on her shoulders to keep her attention.“Kara’s in trouble and—”

“A Red Lantern Ring, yeah I heard.Get me to her.”

Superman wavered, his blue eyes conflicted.“Alex.”

Alex understood, she just didn’t care.

“Get me to her before I find a way to break every bone in your unbreakable body.You have 5 seconds.”

In retrospect, threatening someone who was actually kind of scared of her with an impossible time limit may not have been her smartest move.She’s nauseous and dizzy when Clark stops abruptly in midair.Still, Alex forces herself to look for Kara; her eyes scanning the skies for a flash of red and blue or even blonde.

What she finds instead is black, black, and more black.Someone should really tell Reign that there were more colors in the world.Maybe recommend a shrink to talk her feelings out, bring her out of her emo phase.

Clark’s jaw firms.“This is between us.You want to fight, you fight _me_.”

Reign smirks from where she is hovering in front of them.“Not a problem.You will all fall eventually.”

And usually Alex would have a piece of snark ready and waiting to launch at the Kryptonian.Now though, she can just make out destruction happening about a mile to the east, and a caravan of military vehicles armed to the teeth on their way to intercept.

Kara.

“Put me down.”She commanded gently, and Clark slowly sunk to the ground, keeping his eyes on Reign as she followed suit.

The second her feet were on land, Alex sprinted towards the convoy, flashing her badge and shouting at them to get her to Supergirl.

Her phone rings in her pocket and she hurriedly picks it up, thinking maybe Kara is calling to ask for help.

It’s Lena.

Lena offering to put Supergirl down.

“If you hurt her, I will kill you!”Alex hisses into the phone, turning as far away as she can so that she isn’t overheard.The soldiers are screaming into radios and at each other so it’s hardly as if anyone is paying her any attention.

_“You’re joking right?”_ Lena’s voice is condescending and superior and Alex has to fight not to reach through the phone and strangle the woman. _“She’s tearing the city apart.This is why I said she was dangerous!But you and Kara—”_

Alex erupts, the fire she had been trying to contain exploding as Lena spews her vitriol.

“She _is_ Ka—” Alex cuts herself off, closes her eyes and braces herself and exhales.“You need to stay out of this Lena.She’s not herself; she needs our help.”

And it seems like Lena has finally decided to stop being a fucking idiot about Kara’s two identities because she sucks in a breath and starts asking what happened; is Kara ok; how can she help?

Alex answers as best she can, telling her about the Ring and once again urging Lena to stand down.And then she hears Kara’s voice, sugary sweet as she says Lena’s name.Lena mutters her location and a promise and hangs up.

Behind her, Superman and Reign shoot lasers and throw punches that sounded like thunderclaps.In front of her National City was burning, the L-Corp billboard in tatters as flames danced up the sides.

It was all falling apart.

_When Alex had arrived at Kara’s apartment, she wasn’t sure what she had expected.It certainly hadn’t been for Kara to have **cooked,** although she also wasn’t complaining.Kara was actually an excellent cook, precise in all of her measurements and handling her cuisine with all the care of a dedicated scientist.It was the consequences of growing up a Danvers.Eliza didn’t know how to be anything but a scientist and that had rubbed off on her charges._

_Unfortunately, Alex hadn’t had the cooking gene.She wasn’t even that great of a chemist.She understood the lectures for sure and could spout theories with the best of them, but actually physically practicing?That tended to be a hit or a miss.Which is why she had made the wise decision to go into Bioengineering.Much more suited to her tastes._

_Kara smiled nervously as she held a chair out for Alex at her pre-set dining room table.It sent Alex’s suspicion vibes through the roof, but she forced a smile of her own and took the seat.At least the food smelled delicious._

_“Everything go ok with Winn?”She asked nonchalantly, accepting the gentle push Kara gave her seat by lifting her feet from the floor._

_“Yeah, of course.It went great.Winn’s great—awesome even!”Kara circled the table, fidgeting with her hands as she took her own seat.She popped up again a second later.“Do you want wine?You look like you could use a glass.”_

_“Sure.”Alex agreed easily, watching Kara dart back into the kitchen.“Did Winn accept our apology?Do you need me to kick his ass?Put the fear of God in him?”_

_Kara rolled her eyes, carrying two wine glasses and a bottle of Alex’s favorite white in her hands.She set her burden on the table, popping the cork easily and pouring Alex’s glass first.“Winn accepted **my** apology because it was genuine.He thinks you’re a terrorist.”_

_Alex smirked, trying and failing to hide it behind her raised glass.“I find that to be a little extreme.”Kara gave her a look and Alex couldn’t help the soft chuckle that left her.“I’ll apologize properly tomorrow.Are **you** guys good?I didn’t mean to make the two of you angry with each other.I just wanted to get you to relax a little.You’ve been so stressed lately.”_

_“We’re good.”Kara sighed, taking her seat again and reaching across the table for Alex.Their fingers intertwined easily, and Alex relaxed, the tension from before bleeding away as Kara focused on her.“Winn understands what you were trying to do.He’s the one who explained it to **me** if you can believe it.”Alex could but she wisely chose not to say as much.“He… he suggested that maybe we should talk.”_

_It was Alex’s turn to roll her eyes, lifting her fork to stab at the pasta on her plate.“About our feelings?”She asked mockingly._

_She smirked right after at her own humor, expecting a kick in the shin or a bit of sass in turn.Kara gave her neither, and, when Alex looked up, it was to see the blonde with a deer in headlights look.A sinking feeling entered her gut and she frowned at the other woman in concern._

_“Kara?”_

Kara.

The Kryptonian had just burst out of the top floor of L-Corp and for the first time, Alex was worried Kara actually _had_ killed someone.If that were true, she didn’t know how Kara would survive it, but she knew she’d be there.For whatever she needed, whatever she _wanted,_ Alex would be there.

She jumped out of the truck just as Kara set one of the leading vehicles on fire, her laugh loud and clear despite the battle noise.And then the air was being peppered by bullets and Alex was yelling.Screaming.

There was soldier next to her and Alex saw him load new bullets into his gun.Kryptonite bullets.

Fuck that.

She shoved the muzzle of the gun towards the ground, spinning with her outside arm and slamming the palm of her hand up into his chin.He reeled back in shock, his gun firing into concrete.Alex felt flecks of pain shoot up her legs as the shrapnel and debris hit her calves but ignored it in favor of a roundhouse kick to the guys head.He went out like a light and she was already swinging his gun into the guy next to him and aiming the weapon at his commander’s head.It had barely been a minute, the exertion making her chest heave.

“Sir, with all due respect I would ask that you tell your men to cease fire.I can talk her down.5 minutes.That’s all I’m asking for.”

And, maybe the luck of the damn draw was that Alex had found someone who had sense because the General only huffed and ordered the cease fire.

She dropped the gun, and, unwilling to take the Kryptonite towards Kara and left with only her vague sense of trust in humanity, she ran in the middle of the field.The command was still going down the line so there were still bullets flying but Alex was panicked and not thinking clearly.

She was fairly certain she had almost died earlier.She _knew_ that somewhere between then and now Kara had accepted the Red Lantern ring.And she knew what that meant.The Red Ring devoured the heart, fed off a person’s rage and pain until there was literally nothing left of them.You could take off a Green Ring and live.No one had ever survived taking off a Red Ring.

Alex needed Kara to be the first; needed her to get that damn thing off while she still could.

Was it too late?

How long had she been out?

Not long.

Please God let her not have taken too long.

It took a second for Kara to spot her, but when she did her original expression screamed annoyance.Words failed Alex when that expression turned to one of painful hope and Kara swooped down to join her on the grass.

And Alex realized that the shooting still hadn’t stopped; that it in fact was increasing as Kara wrapped her up tight in her arms, shielding her with her body.

Alex tried to warn her about the Kryptonite but before she could she felt a liquid heat pool in her shoulder and lance down her back.It felt wet at first, and then the pain was damn near agony.She gasped, Kara’s eyes snapping to hers before looking behind her to where she had been hit.

Whatever she saw made her grit her teeth in rage, a feeling Alex was trying to avoid.

Then the world exploded.The ground literally erupted beneath them as the full might of a Kryptonian’s grief and anger was unleashed on the world.Heat vision swept in wide arc, and by simply _standing_ Kara was breaking the Earth below her.It was like something out of a cartoon!

Kara was going to bring the world down around them unless Alex stopped her, that thought giving Alex the strength she needed to cup Kara’s face.

_“I’m in love with you.” Kara admitted quietly, leaning forward on her elbows and pulling at her sweater sleeve.The blue one that Alex loved.“I’ve been in love with you… forever.I just… I didn’t know what it was.I’ve been in love with for so long that somewhere along the way I stopped realizing I was in love with you.Like when you fly the same route every day and you start to blur out the actual journey… I’d forgotten there was a time I wasn’t flying.”_

_And well Alex wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.She knows pulling her hand away from Kara’s is the wrong move, but she feels a sudden need to withdraw.Not in a bad way, just in a ‘need to take stock of her situation’ kind of way.If such a way existed.She wasn’t sure.She was just trying to wrap her head around what Kara had just said.Something about flying.And being in love.With her._

_With Alex._

_In love._

_Romantically._

_She’s tempted to pinch herself.Tempted to actually inflict as much pain as is possible to wake herself up from this… thing.It’s not a nightmare—any universe where Kara confesses her love to Alex is a good one, it’s just… she wasn’t quite prepared for it.She didn’t know what to say._

_She couldn’t say it back; refused to say something she didn’t mean.Alex had been in love with Maggie; she knew what that felt like.What she felt for Kara… was not that.But she also knew that if there were anyone in the entire universe, she could choose to spend the rest of her life with, she would choose Kara in every scenario.Not Maggie._

_So what did that mean?_

_Alex had no idea but now she was looking at Kara like she was a whole different person; like the sheet she had thrown over her marked ‘sister’ had been suddenly and irrevocably snatched away to reveal a fairytale princess.And she didn’t know what the hell to do._

_She had no idea who this person was._

_Had never let herself see her before._

_Looking at her now, Alex very badly wanted to see her._

_Outwardly her silence had lasted too long, and Kara was rushing off to solve someone else’s problem before she could think this all through._

_Alex had accepted it; had cleaned up dinner and gone back to her apartment and dissected her life._

_Again._

_She found it wasn’t quite working the way it had with Maggie; Kara was a different beast all together.Because Alex knew how she felt about Kara, there was never any question about whether she loved her.Alex loved Kara unconditionally.She just didn’t love her the way Kara had confessed to love Alex._

_Mission: complicated but not insurmountable._

_Alex wasn’t going to give herself into a loveless relationship; not even for Kara.She’d only end up hurting the woman and there was no way in hell Alex would ever partake in causing Kara pain.She’d already had more than her fare share.BUT—the point she had found in all of this was that she hadn’t loved Maggie when she’d met her.It had taken time.She just needed some time._

_Because she knew that she wanted to try; she’d seen Kara for all she was the other night and she wanted to see more.Kara was… magnificent, gorgeous, amazing—everything good in Alex’s life and the world.Even the whiny, mushy, stubborn bits.She wanted to know more about this new side of her, see where they fit.If Kara was willing to try to then maybe…_

_‘Maybe’ only worked if Kara answered her phone._

_She didn’t._

_She went underground._

_So Alex drank._

_Alex tried to forget._

_And then Alex got a call._

She begs Kara to take off the Ring, but it doesn’t quite work.Kara is too focused on Alex’s injury, superficial as it is, to see past her rage.Alex groans as a nurse puts pressure on the wound.

Unnecessary, she wants to say.The heat vision had cauterized the worst of the bleeders. They needed to do an ultrasound at most, make sure that her vitals were intact, rule out a need for any excisions.

Instead, they pandered about, and Alex was finding it was extremely difficult to fight off a whole team of medical personnel when you were wounded and tired.She tried anyway and only relented when they agreed to give her access to a TV with CatCo news on.

So, instead of fighting by Kara’s side, being there with her while she takes off that damn Ring, she gets to watch a fight between Kara and Reign.Gets to watch Kara disappear into Space.

Again.

Kara doesn’t have a pod anymore.

She had given that to Mon-El.

Who had left for the future with his wife in their space ship as soon as Pestilence had been taken care of.

The doctors have finished stitching her shoulder together by the time she remembers that J’onn is a Martian with a spaceship of his own.She lurches up, feeling the slight pull of the thread in her numbed shoulder.The nurse hisses at her, and Alex shoves her away, stumbles off the bed, grabs her jacket, and lurches out of the door.The doctor chases after her and she feels bad when she punches him in the nose.But she didn’t have time for this.

She had to get her girl.

She had to find Kara.

She doesn’t get far; Winn is in the waiting room and blanches at the sight of the needle still hanging from a thread down her chest.

“Get me to J’onn.”She demands, only slightly swaying on her feet.

Winn grimaces and hedges, “he went after Kara.”

Alex has to fight not to hit him and the only thing that stays her hand is that the last time she had hurt Winn, however unintentionally, Kara had been pissed at her.And she hadn’t had a chance to properly apologize.

She hadn’t had a chance to—

Fuck that.

Winn’s eyes widened at the same time Alex took her next step, shouldering passed him and walking straight out of the hospital.Security followed her out, keeping a safe distance as they talked on their walkies.Alex hadn’t been checked in for a psych eval, so they weren’t sure if she was a danger or if she was just pissed and they didn’t have the authority to arrest her.Either way staying the hell out of her way was a good choice.

She hobbled into the street, half dressed in a hospital gown, DEO cargos, and her jacket clutched in her hand.

Once there she looked up at the sky and collapsed to her knees, her body giving out at the complete hopelessness of the situation.J’onn was out of reach, she had no idea where he would keep his ship, and Kara was… 

_I love you Alex._

Kara.

_I’m in love with you._

Winn sunk to his knees next to her, draping his cardigan over her shoulders and wrapping an arm around her.There were very few people who would understand how she was feeling right now.

Winn was one of them.

_I’d forgotten there was a time I wasn’t flying._

There’s a thundering in her chest, her heart beating punishingly against her ribcage and making her breath come in short, quick, gasps.She’s been here before; knows that this will pass but for now the pain feels insurmountable and she doesn’t have **time.**

No time for panic, or hopelessness, or kneeling on the damn floor.

When the agony builds, she is ready for it, releases it in a rage filled scream to the night sky, Winn flinching next to her.Flinching but not releasing.

He was still there.

_Oh, I’d go anywhere with you._

“She told me she loved me.That she was in love with me.”Alex raised her blurry eyes to Winn, acknowledging for the first time that maybe she would require a bit of assistance.“I can get her.I just need you to get me to J’onn’s ship.”

_Alex steps in front of Kara after J’onn finishes the mission debrief.The other Agents file out of the room around them and Alex is quick to open her mouth as soon as their side of the room is mostly empty._

_“We need to talk.”_

_Kara grimaces and shakes her head, arms crossed tightly against her chest, the S in her uniform crinkling at her movement.“Not now Alex, we have work to do.”_

_“I know that Kara but—”_

_“I cannot do this right now.”Kara insists, blue eyes snapping up to focus on Alex’s.“I know that **you** feel that we need to talk about this now but I **can’t.** There’s too much at stake for me to lose my focus.”_

_Dammit, that’s the same thing Alex had been trying to hammer into her brain for months now.She has very little wiggle room for an argument and Kara knows it._

_Fine._

_“Fine!But after—”_

_“Yes, after!”Kara quickly agrees, moving around Alex and joining the small remaining queue of Agents by the door.Alex rolls her eyes at her antics and moves to grab her debrief folder from the table.She looks up when Kara turns back to her, puzzled.“What is that?”_

_Alex looks dubiously down at the paperwork in her hands, hears Kara gasp, hears gunfire erupt in the main lobby and then…_

_And then._

Winn got them to J’onn’s ship in a matter of ten minutes, hacking the DEO from the hospital workstation and cross-checking coordinates.He drives because Alex is clearly not fit, and they pull up to a nondescript garage.

They are just about to bust the door in—a good old-fashioned gate crashing—when Hal Jordan lands in front of them, Green Lantern Ring stopping the impact.J’onn opens Alex’s door seconds later, an unimpressed look on his face.Alex tries not to glower.

“Superman is headed to the fortress.He has Kara.”

Hal takes Winn and J’onn grabs Alex and they’re at the fortress in a matter of minutes.Clark is frantic, arguing with Kelex as the bot scans Kara and throws up stats in midair.

“You have to check her heart.The Ring is gone!Get her on life support!”

Kelex bobbed, his body whirring as he looked at the data.“I am sorry Kal-El but there is nothing wrong with Kara Zor-El’s anatomy; she is perfectly functional.She need only absorb an extensive amount of solar energy to replenish herself after her recent battles.”

“No!”Clark shouts, Alex hurrying passed him to where Kara was laid out on a stone slab.“You don’t understand—”

“Her heart is beating.”Alex interrupts, eyes darting between the screen and to where she has pressed her fingers to Kara’s neck.“Clark, her heart is beating.”Alex grabs Kara’s hands, sliding her fingers over each naked digit.“The hell?”

Clark is already shaking his head, moving over to them and running agitated hands through his hair.“She must have gotten the Ring off somehow… Or it chose Reign—” He whirled back to Hal, his eyes alight with his desperation.“If the Ring left her—”

“Calm down,” the Green Lantern said, hands up.“I know this looks bad but we don’t really have a precedent to start worrying.Her heart _is_ beating right now and as long as it stays that way—”

“Kelex!”Clark spun back to Kara’s prone form, barely acknowledging anyone else’s presence in the face of his fear.“You need to run a scan on any outside activity.Anything that might be affecting her!If there’s even the smallest chance that—”

“There is not Scion Kal-El.I have performed every test in my library and none of them indicate that Kara Zor-El is in any danger.The Great Scion is safe.”

During all of this, Alex slides her good hand up to cup Kara’s cheek, fingers tanging in blonde strands as she tips the Kryponian’s face towards her.Kara looked normal, her face slack in her sleep, and, although her Supergirl suit bears a few new tears and scorch marks, the skin underneath is unblemished and warm against Alex’s fingertips.If it had been any other time, Alex would be convinced that Kara was just sleeping.As it was…

“Winn, there’s a case on my left back side.Second pocket on my belt.Can you pass it to me?”Normally, Alex wouldn’t allow anyone so close to her ass but she has a busted shoulder that has limited her mobility and an unconscious love interest that she badly needs to be ok.She’ll take whatever help she can get.

Winn fidgets with her utility belt, the device shifting uncomfortably around her hips as he obtains the object she has requested.She murmurs a thanks once it’s in her functioning hand, and flicks the case open easily, a syringe falling onto Kara’s stomach.Alex picks it up and is injecting it in Kara’s arms when Clark finally notices what she is doing.

Her back is against solid ice in less time than it takes for her heart to beat, the icy cruelty of the fortress’s walls cutting jagged slithers into her flesh.J’onn appears at her side a mere second after but is wise enough not to fight Kal-El in this position; not when he has a hand around Alex’s throat and eyes full of red laced fury.At the moment, this isn’t Superman.It’s not even Clark Kent.This is Kal-El, the last son of Krypton who was sent away when he was barely two years old; who’s childhood had been laced with abandonment and self-worth issues over a family he was never sure had wanted him.Kara had eliminated most of that, the last daughter of Krypton making sure that he knew every day how loved he had been, how loved he still was.His last remaining blood relative.

His family had grown in leaps and bounds since Kara had shown him how to open his heart and now, she was in danger and Alex had made the wrong move in his eyes.

“Put her down.”J’onn’s voice was gravel and it reverberated around the walls, the echo dying and leaving only Kal-El’s harsh pants in its wake.“Now Clark.”

Alex focuses on breathing threw her nose, trying to force air passed her stressed windpipe but feeling herself grow lightheaded all the same.And then she’s on the ground, J’onn hands grabbing her and hauling her to her feet as Clark glares at her testily.

“The hell do you think you were doing?”

“Saving her.”Alex snarls, shoving past him and returning to Kara’s side.She softens her voice as she pets Kara’s hair, fingers featherlight as she traces the woman’s hairline.“Hey Kara, I need you to wake up for me.Wake up honey.Come on.”

She keeps repeating the words, making sure her voice stays gentle despite the lack of activity after several moments.She wants Kara to wake gradually, not jerk up in fear or anger.

“Come on honey, open your eyes for me.”Alex strokes down Kara’s cheekbone, “just a little honey and we can go get pancakes.Blueberry, just like you like.”Kara’s lips twitch and Alex stamps down the wave of hope that erupts in her chest.Gentle.Keep it gentle.“I need you Kara.My heart’s beating honey… I need you to wake up for me…Clark got crullers and sticky buns and he’s eating—”

Kara’s eyes snap open, confusion swimming in them as she makes direct eye contact with Alex.Alex who had flinched back at the sudden awareness her words had brought.The pupils of Kara’s eyes are particularly dilated, a side affect of the adrenaline shot Alex had given her the agent supposes, but the fact that it had worked… Alex pressed her fingers back to Kara’s neck, seeking the rapid pulse there and nearly sobbing her relief.It would have only worked if Kara’s heart was truly beating, and, despite all the evidence that had proven such before, Alex, like Clark, had had a hard time wrapping her mind around Kara actually being alive.

Alive and sans Red Lantern Ring.

How the hell did that happen?

“Hi.”She manages to breathe, Clark speeding to her side to see Kara’s reincarnation for himself.And because she couldn’t think of anything else to say… “Do you want to go home?”

Kara blinks and then slowly nods.

_I’d go anywhere with you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 will be a blend of POV.
> 
> Also for anyone who didn't know, Chloe has random healing powers per Smallville... that I did not watch. Takin a lot on faith here...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone figures their shit out... kind of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shuffles in nervously* I forgot... I's workin on somethin else and then I forgot... and I barely edited this so sorry for any mistakes... and for forgetting...

Clark flies her back to her apartment, holding her as though she were made of glass and sniffling every so often to try to staunch the steady stream of tears that had overtaken him.Kara gets it.If anything had happened to him, she’d be pretty much the same.

As it is, Kara finds she can’t cry.Or yell.Or… anything.She knows she looks like a zombie, mindlessly staring at Alex as though expecting the woman to vanish at any moment.She can’t help it.

Alex had been dead.

She hadn’t had a heartbeat.

And then after…

After, Reign had _laser visioned_ her straight in the chest.Alex was a human.She couldn’t have survived that.

Except she had.

She was standing in front of Kara like…

Like what?

The brunette moved quickly out of J’onn’s arms when he landed next to them and her right hand reached for Kara.Alex’s eyes were for Clark.

“I’m going to take her to get cleaned up, could you order—”

“Of course!”The response was quick; eager for something to do, to feel useful.Clark’s head nodded like a bobble head.“Chinese?Or Pizza—no, I’ll figure it out.You two go and—yeah.”He spun on his heel, going for Kara’s corded phone in her kitchen.Alex had questioned why she kept the archaic technology and when Winn had seen he had nearly had a heart attack.Still, Kara had kept it because, despite the newer tech that had taken over, she was very tired of saying goodbye to things.

Speaking of saying goodbye…

Alex had dragged her into the bathroom, Kara still unable to do anything but _stare._ Which was fine she supposed, since Alex was touching her like she was afraid she would evaporate, her hands shaky and eyes tearing.

She just… she didn’t understand what was happening.

So Kara squints at her, head tilting as she tries to figure out the puzzle in front of her.“You’re dead.”She croaks, “I saw you die.Twice.”

And Alex stills, her hands at Kara’s middle having just wrestled down the top of her suit, leaving her bare from the waist up.When Alex does look at her, it is slow, and her eyes are full of pain.

“Dummy.”Alex accuses quietly, cupping Kara’s cheek in her palm and bringing their heads close, her lips pressing against the Kryptonian’s forehead.“I never died.I made you a promise, didn’t I?”

“But…”Kara frowns and in the background, she can hear Clark heaving wet choking breaths into Hal’s shoulder as the Green Lantern tries to calm him down.Kara raises her fingers and presses them to Alex’s neck, face still puzzled.“I felt like this and—”

“No,” Alex corrects, a sob catching in her throat as she moves Kara’s fingers to her actual pulse and not the thick tendon, she had originally placed her fingers on.“I’ve told you not the muscle, the artery.Find the thump.”

“Oh.”Kara blinks slowly and lets her hand fall to Alex’s chest.Over her heart.The thump obvious under her palm.“Are you sure I’m not dead?I blew out my powers after fighting Reign… and getting the Ring off… and trying to get back here.I feel dead.”

Alex shakes her head.“You’re not dead.”And she kisses Kara’s cheek _,_ inhaling sharply and biting her own lip so hard Kara was afraid she would draw blood.“Where’s Reign now?Did she fly off somewhere?”

“She’s dead.”Kara says it matter of fact, that hollow feeling still in her chest.She feels sort of like she’s asleep.Like the world around her is moving but she can’t quite wake herself up to join it.

Alex’s face gentles, her fingers going to the hairs at the nape of Kara’s neck, toying with the strands in the way she always did when she wanted to calm Kara down.“Are you sure?”

“Yes.She can’t hurt you anymore.”Kara’s eyes slide closed, her body relaxing as she sags further into Alex.

“Ok.”Alex allows, petting Kara’s hair again and then gently continuing to disrobe her.She reaches back and turns on the shower, the water almost drowning out her next gently asked question.“What about the Ring?Did she have the Ring?”

Kara shakes her head, lifting her feet obediently as Alex removes the last of her clothing.“No.I threw it into the sun.”

Alex nearly chokes, fingers fumbling with Kara’s boots at that blatant admission.“You threw it?”

Kara frowns again, feeling a slight pout form as she considers why Alex would be angry about that.“You told me to.You said to take it off and to come home.”

“Yeah.”Alex mutters, looking suddenly and completely overwhelmed.“Yeah, ok.”

The kiss seems to surprise Alex as much as it surprises Kara, who makes a soft ‘umph’ sound when Alex seals their mouths together.She’s obviously trying to keep it gentle, the brunette’s lips trembling under the weight of her emotions as she attempts to kiss Kara properly.Alex grabs fistfuls of Kara’s hair, pulling them closer together as she continues the kiss, soft sobs making the whole affair surreal on a whole other level.

Kara had daydreamed about maybe being able to kiss Alex.To feel her close like this.

Alex crying had never been part of that daydream.

She feels kind of cheated but, when she makes a slight noise of protest, Alex comes alive, grabbing her face and pulling her even closer, her movements becoming desperate. It takes only a second for Kara to taste the fear, to realize that Alex is terrified and trying to hold onto her.Her own hands, that had been stuck at Alex’s waist, raise to her back, rubbing gently to soothe some of that ache.

Kara may not exactly be _present_ mentally, but she knows that she never wants Alex to feel like this.And she knows that the best way to soothe Alex’s fears is physical affection.For all of her stoic bravado, Alex has always craved touch more than words. 

In response to Kara’s back rub, Alex cups Kara’s face in both hands and the digits in each shake and maybe making her a bit rougher than she usually would be.

Scratch that. 

A lot rougher.Kara’s cheeks are practically smooshed together as Alex kisses her, and, if she weren’t feeling so off balance, Kara would have laughed at her antics.

“Your smooshing me.”Kara complains, but one hand circles Alex’s wrist and her lips press back when Alex’s do.“I think I’m dead.”

“You’re not dead.”Alex mutters, seemingly unable to stop kissing Kara now that she’s started.

On Kara’s part, she’s starting to maybe realize that she’s not dead.

Starts to feel a fiery tingle wherever Alex’s is touching her.She sighs softly when the agent drops one hand to her waist, dragging their hips together.Slowly, her body starts to come alive, and Kara whimpers.

Alex is kissing her.

_Alex_ is kissing her.

~*~

Alex is trying very hard not to make a fool of herself right now.After all of that internal trauma she’d put herself through when Kara had confessed her feelings, all for her to be a shivering, panting mess at their first kiss?

Talk about mortification!

There’s an overwhelming feeling of anxiety coursing through her, but underneath it is the thrill of joy and want that she hadn’t expected when she kissed Kara.She’d expected a weirdness, maybe a repulsion even.Not this feeling of electricity.When Alex had been a small child, her parents had often left her to her own devices.So long as they were in the house, they assumed her to be safe.As such, when she had decided to change her lightbulb by herself at the tender age of 7, she’d been electrocuted and only the sound of the shattering bulb had alerted her parents to the danger.Eliza and Jeremiah had fawned over her for weeks, but all Alex had wanted to know was if she could do it again.The electrical surge had made her feel alive, had thrummed through her body and made her feel powerful.Seeing the brewing storm in Alex’s newfound desires, the Danvers had sat her down with a heap of books on the dangers of electricity.Alex hadn’t tried to replicate her one bout of electrocution but now?With Kara?

Man; that incident didn’t hold a candle to how this felt.

She’d been terrified before of making any sort of move after Kara’s confession; had let herself off the hook when Kara had started avoiding her, even when she knew she was only causing them both more pain.But Alex was a scientist at heart and coming to a definitive conclusion without any procedural data?That was suicide.

She had had the hypothesis that she maybe _could_ have feelings for Kara but hadn’t had much evidence to lend credence to that theory.Subjecting Kara to any experimental feelings would have been cruel and the thought of hurting her had tabled any tests Alex might have been inclined to run.

But leaving Kara waving in the wind?Having Kara share her feelings and take a step of the ledge and _not_ being there to catch her?That had been unthinkable.

Her inaction would have meant Kara’s emotional destruction.

Her theoretical actions would have led to the same end eventually since Alex could never seem to not fuck anything up.Particularly when it came to her romantic relationships.

She’d been stuck and the one person who had always been there to help her out of it, had been the one person she couldn’t turn to.

It had been torture.

Alex had made a lot of bad mistakes because of it.

But this?

This was definitely not one of them.

Kara whimpered, and Alex shuffled slightly, tilting Kara’s head for a better angle and feeling something flutter low and hot in her belly when the Kryptonian trembled in her arms.

How could she have ever questioned if this was a good idea?

She was such an idiot.

“I have to be dead.”Kara argues, when Alex moves her kisses to Kara’s jaw.“You don’t like me in real life.”

“Says who?”

“You.You left.”

“ _You_ left.”Alex disputes, distracted but knowing that she had to make sure Kara knew she’d never walk away from her.Feelings or no.“I tried to talk to you and you wouldn’t listen.”

“Oh.”Kara says.

Alex pulls back to look at her, forcing her hands to relax so Kara didn’t look quite so ridiculous.Blue eyes are still bleary, still holding that hint of confused bewilderment that makes her look like she’d been hit over the head with something very heavy.But her pupils have relaxed, and her pulse seems to have evened out, even though there was now a red flush to her skin, and she seemed a bit twitchy.The drugs were working their way through her system and should be out in a few more minutes or so.Until then—until Alex was _sure_ that Kara’s heart would survive after the adrenaline wore off, she wasn’t going to risk leaving her side.

She exhales raggedly before turning to help Kara into the shower.They’ve seen each other in varying states of disrobement but have never actually been in the same space nude.Surprisingly it doesn’t feel weird being so close to Kara when she’s completely naked, and, when the blonde lists to the side unsteadily, Alex is quick to shuck her own pants and boots to hop in beside her.

Back when she had been a grad student, there had been a one-day extra credit assignment that she had readily accepted to boost her then failing grades.It had been a hands-on workshop on the ethics and medical techniques involved in caring for an incapacitated loved one.Alex had still had dreams of being an M.D/Ph.D. at that point and had taken vigilant notes.

When she’d lost herself to the bottom of a bottle, she had hardly deigned to think she would ever need to remember such things.

Of all the classes to be thankful for.

She keeps her touch soft and makes sure to tell Kara what she’s doing before she does it.Alex can’t help the soft kisses she presses to Kara’s cheeks and forehead when Kara’s eyes threaten to slide shut, her hands are, after all, busy washing the Kryptonian and holding her weight.

Besides, watching those blue eyes blink at her sleepily before recognition and a sleepy grin crept on her face was more than worth the slight breach of ethical behavior in Alex’s book.

When she gets Kara to the bed, wrapped tight in a towel, Alex allows herself to relax.It’s been near an hour since Kara’s woken up and her heart it still beating.She’s passed the first test. Alex herself is dripping all over the floor, and if Kara were more aware, she’d be chewing her out for staining her wood.

As it is, she’s fading fast and drooping against the headboard.Alex scurries to get out of her wet clothes and into a t-shirt and sweats, and to get Kara into her coveted soccer warm up that she had stolen from Alex with the name ‘Danvers’ stitched across the back.Kara smiles when she sees it and is a limp noodle when Alex wrestles her arms into the shirt.Next is a pair of underwear and warm socks, before Alex is tucking her under covers.

Alex pulls Kara’s legs into her lap, rubbing lotion into the wind chapped skin so that Kara maybe doesn’t scratch herself out of her skin in the morning.The Kryptonian sighs and pulls uselessly at Alex’s arms.

“Hold me?”She requests, and Alex forgets the lotion and climbs up and over Kara’s body to settle in next to her.She remembers Clark has ordered food but can’t bring herself to demand Kara stay awake to eat it.

Kara snuggles in close, pressing her nose against Alex’s jaw, and allowing her hands to drift slowly against Alex’s back and waist.Its an exquisite kind of torture when Kara presses her lips to her jaw, her fingers moving to tilt Alex’s head…

“Can we take it slow?”Alex asks, flame rushing to her cheeks as the words stumble from her unbidden.Nevertheless, she doesn’t want to lead Kara on, needs her to understand that she’s not where Kara is emotionally but would love the opportunity to catch up.“Can we—I’m not any good at this stuff and I don’t want to hurt you.I love you so much, but I don’t know if it’s what you need or what you want and I—I don’t see how you could ever want _me._ I don’t know how that works because you’re so—”

“Shut up.”Kara orders, tugging Alex closer.“You’re—”

Alex’s yelp of pain stops the undoubtedly romantic speech that was about to take place and Kara frantically pushes herself into a seated position despite the fact that that’s what Alex had been trying to avoid.Alex fights the grimace as her shoulder babbles it’s protest, sending waves of agonized fire over her collar and down her back.Fuck that hurt.

Still she tries to push Kara back down despite the Kryptonian’s protests and so they end up just kind of swatting at each other until the boys bust in and Winn intervenes and pulls Alex away and Clark swoops Kara up in a tight hug.Alex allows the glower she had been about to send Winn to die when she sees the cousins hugging.She admits that there had been many a time where she had questioned Clark’s love and loyalty to his cousin but seeing them now?Alex can admit that the man looks like he’d just been given a second lease on life.

Kara sinks into her cousin’s arms for several moments before her eyes find Alex again and she starts to squirm.

“Her shoulder.Kal, she needs a doctor.”

Clark glances behind him, swiping at his face as he notices Alex’s injury for the first time.Winn stumbles across the bed, ignoring Alex’s protests and pushing Clark away for his turn at hugging Kara.

“Trust me,” her friend says as he settles between the two women, “the doctors don’t want her back.She broke one of their noses.”

“What?”Kara asks, genuinely concerned.

Alex bares her teeth at Winn, her right hand laying over the bandage on her left shoulder as she tried to remove the pain via osmosis.“I’m fine.Stitches out in two weeks, rest your shoulder, ice and heat, blah, blah, blah.” 

And Alex has had enough of sharing; is just about to knock Winn over and squeeze through to Kara’s side when she notices Lena in the room, hovering back behind the doorway. Kara notices a mere second after and shifts away from Winn uncomfortably.From what Alex has gathered, Krypton had never much cared for nudity in the face of ones loved ones, communal baths and the like being common, but Alex could tell that Kara was now noticing how underdressed she was.

That she seemed to have only taken notice when Lena entered… well Alex wasn’t miffed about that at all.

Lena clears her throat and moves to stand closer, Kara’s soft voice making her stumble slightly when she reached J’onn’s side.

“Lena… I am _so_ sorry.I was angry but…”Kara sputters, fumbles, her face coloring in shame as she hunches her shoulders and tries to hide.“I shouldn’t have accepted the Ring. I don’t know why I—” she cuts herself off, glances at Alex, glares at her hands.“I don’t have any excuses.I’m just sorry.”

The CEO is mute for several moments, tense lines around her mouth and eyes betraying her discomfort. “There’s a court martial for Supergirl’s arrest,” she finally states. “The Secretary of Defense called and asked for my assistance in bringing her in.”

The news, while not completely unexpected, still sets Alex’s blood _boiling._ They’d tried this before as well, when Kara had been infected with RedK.She’d had to undergo multiple trials, interviews that were more like interrogations, and a subsequent probationary period before the DEO had been allowed to share any kind of intel with her.Saving kittens and putting out fires was all well and good, but there were other dangers out there that could have used Kara’s attention and because of bureaucracy, she’d had her hands tied.

Alex was under no illusions that this would be even remotely similar.

RedK had been Max’s fault; a product of his own making that he had actually testified to.

A Red Ring couldn’t be _forced_ on anyone.Kara had chosen that.After there brief discussion in the bathroom, Alex thought she might understand why…

Kara had thought she was dead.Had kept repeating it.Somehow, she’d believed Alex had stopped living; had woken up to Reign destroying everything she’d loved.Were their positions reversed, Alex would have chosen the Ring too.If only to be able to make Reign pay for taking Kara from her.

So she got it; she understood.

The U.S. Government didn’t; wouldn’t.They didn’t work based off of emotional attachments that didn’t include male egos.Love was a foreign concept and one that was hardly worth the Super Power Kara would have become if left unchecked.Literally nothing in the world would have been able to stand in her way; her thirst for vengeance would have never been quenched and, although Alex knows on a visceral level that Kara would never and could never be evil without the help of Kryptonite or mind control, that doesn’t mean she would have been _good_ either.The Red Lantern corps weren’t inherently evil beings, but the way they doled out justice wouldn’t have sat well with anyone in this room, let alone the guys on Capitol Hill.

Which she also understood.That didn’t stop it from being—

“That’s _bullshit!”_ The outburst does not, surprisingly, come from Alex.Instead it is Clark who shoots up, putting himself between Lena and his cousin as if the small woman herself were actually a threat in a room full of super beings and a lethal government agent.Alex was more surprised that Lena had had the balls to say as much in front of any of them and, even though she saw Kara tense in fear at Lena’s blasé statement, her own eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out the Luthor’s play.“You’re not taking her anywhere and if you think—”

Lena tilted her body so that she could continue talking to Kara despite Clark’s ongoing tirade.

“I, of course, explained to the Secretary, the Attorney General, _and_ the President that an experimental version of the Kryptonite they asked me to help produce for Reign was detected by said party.And, while I would love to hand over the footage of the events that led up to such a bizarre episode that created this perfect storm, the footage was unfortunately destroyed when L-Corp was attacked.”Clark shut up, and Alex felt her lips tick up into a smile.“The end result however was that during a battle with Reign over the Kryptonite, there was an explosion that created a genetically identical entity that took on Supergirl’s likeness.It was obviously then the doppelganger that caused havoc in National City and it was Supergirl who fought and defeated both it and Reign.Arresting her under those circumstances would hardly be considered lawful let alone garner any sort of popular opinion.We should all actually be glad of the government assistance that was there to aid Supergirl in her fight,” she nodded at Alex, smirk slightly devious and full of sarcasm, “and the brave Agents who stepped in and showed humanity’s power in such dire circumstances.”

“Evil clone is over doing it don’t you think?” Alex grumbles after several tense seconds of silence.She stands because as much as it seems that Lena is on their side, her stance is aggressive and Alex doesn’t like that the woman is taller than in her under those circumstances.

Or any circumstances.

Lena shrugged, eyes back on Kara.“I was a bit preoccupied realizing that my best friend was an alien and might be dead.They bought it and we’re in the clear.I don’t see a problem.”

“You lied.”Kara said quietly, her focus on her hands as she avoided looking at Lena at all costs.

“So did you.”Lena blinks, the bitterness that had coated her voice making her mouth pinch further.Green eyes locked on Alex when Kara stayed silent, and the agent was acutely aware of the pain she saw there.“It would still be advisable for Supergirl to lay low for a few days; nothing world shaking.These men can be… sensitive in times like this.”

Alex nods, “of course.”

There’s a knock at the door that echoes through the apartment and Clark mumbles something about food before leaving the room.Lena offers a tense smile before moving to follow after him.

“Well, I need to get back to L-Corp.”She visibly swallows as she backs out of the room, nodding at Alex as she goes.“Keep her safe.”

“Lena,” Kara tries again when her friend turns to leave.“ _I’m sorry.”_

Lena pauses in the doorway, hand clenching at her side before all the fight seems to leave her body.“I know.I am too.”Is all she says before she’s gone completely.

Winn hugs Kara tight, the blonde releasing a ragged pain filled breath that makes Alex’s heart clench.

“I ordered sticky buns.”Clark offers from the doorway, arms laden with bags.

And, ok normally, Alex would kick him out of the bedroom with all of that food because: crumbs.But Kara’s face is kind of lighting up and she’s making a half-hearted attempt at grabby hands and there’s no way Alex is going to smash that small spot of light in the midst of this turd pile so she just sighs and at least offers to get the plates.

Later, after the foods been demolished and Winn has managed to get at least one laugh out of Kara and the boys have all gone home, Alex lays on her side and studies her sleeping alien.

It feels like the first time she’s actually seeing her…

There are very fine scrapes on Kara’s face from her reentry into earth’s atmosphere.There barely visible and more than likely the product of dry skin from the wind.Alex had taken great care to finish putting lotion on the rest of her when she had finally taken notice. Alcohol free moisturizer that she had sent Clark to the store for since Kara only had scented brands.It had been a bit difficult with her shoulder, but there was no way in hell Alex was going to let anyone else touch Kara so intimately.Not after she’d finally started to understand and accept what they could be like together.

Kara snuffles in her sleep, her hand reaching out blindly and wrapping around Alex’s waist.She pulls herself closer, nose huffing as if she’s searching for something before settling down when she finds Alex’s neck.The blonde releases a sigh of contentment and resumes her boneless somnolence.

It's adorable, she thinks as she allows sleep to claim her.

Alex won’t lie and say that this is everything she’s ever wanted because its not.She’d never harbored any secret romantic feelings for Kara.At least none that she could remember.So this wasn’t some dream come true… it was so much more powerful than that.This was like waking up from a fog.Like realizing that your favorite gun in Call of Duty wasn’t just a myth but an honest to god prototype that your best friend had developed for you.It was everything she hadn’t even known to be possible; everything she hadn’t even known she could want and yet better than anything she could have possibly imagined.She may not be in love with Kara yet, but it wasn’t something she was worried about anymore.Alex had already fallen harder for her in a day than she had for anyone else in her life in a month.It would have been scary if it were anyone else.

It was Kara though, and Kara would never hurt her.She wouldn’t leave and—

“Do you want kids?”She blurts first thing in the morning.Kara is blinking away sleep and trying to hide from the sunlight and nearly rolls right off the bed at Alex’s outburst.Alex grabs her wrist and tugs her back.“With me I mean?”

Kara squints at her before releasing a gusty exhale and slumping onto her back.“Alex, I love you but, as happy as I would be to try interspecies breeding with you, I am exhausted.”

“Pfft,” Alex sputters, face going remarkably red as heat floods her entire body.“Not now you weirdo!”She shoves Kara’s shoulder when she has the nerve to _laugh_ and fights the urge to roll her eyes.“Just—maybe one day.Is a child something that you could want to do?With me?”

And the look Kara gives her is so soft and achingly sweet that she finds it slightly difficult to breathe.

“That would be a dream.”Kara admits, and, since Alex no longer has to worry about proposing and finding out that major deal breaker after the fact, she kisses the blonde again.Kara’s lips are chapped and dry and she grumbles a protest that makes Alex laugh because less than twenty-four hours ago they’d both been sure they wouldn’t see each other again.

Kara had accepted a Ring and Alex had tried to go on a suicide mission.The extremes they would go to for one another had landed them both in hot water, but right now, laying on Kara’s bed with sunlight streaming in through the closed curtains, Kara halfheartedly trying to push her away because she ‘tasted gross’, Alex couldn’t find it in herself to care.

And when she pulled back and looked into Kara’s eyes, she didn’t think the Kryptonian minded it one iota either.

Not if it landed them here; together.

Kara smiles lazily, only a hint of melancholy dancing at the corners, and the hand that had been on Alex’s uninjured shoulder drops to her chest, just over her heartbeat.

“My heart’s beating.”Alex whispered, voice half scolding and half laugh as she kisses the corner of Kara’s smile in an attempt to chase that sadness away.

She’s on her back before she really realizes it, Kara’s hair falling like a curtain over their faces as the Kryptonian supports herself on her elbows on either side of Alex’s head.Kara’s eyes are a happy, sparkling blue; clear as a summer sky and just as warm, even if the edges crinkle slightly in just a hint of guilt.

“I think,” Kara starts, fingers drifting over the fine edges of hair at Alex’s temples, “that you are the most magnificent thing in my world.”There’s a gust of warm air over her face as Kara kisses each of her eyelids and then her nose.“Thank you for not dying.”

A tear drops onto her cheek and Alex feels her fingers clench at the small of Kara’s back, her lips trembling at the obvious love in Kara’s touch; at the very real _gratitude_ in her voice.She feels _so much_ for this woman, this miracle from space, and sometimes it’s hard for her to figure out the depth—the meaning, behind it all.So much so that even now she has trouble forcing simple words past the lump in her throat.It’s worth it though, when she sees Kara smile at her so brilliantly after.Like she’d given her the greatest gift; like she _was_ the greatest gift.

“Thank you for coming home.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is done. Yay.
> 
> So Lena and Kara have a ways to go towards forgiving each other. 
> 
> In this story, Lena at least steps in to intervene between Supergirl and the Government; an idea I got from her intervening for James in the show. Betraying her mom was kind of hurtful though...
> 
> I still think Lena was wrong for her actions in Season 3 in regards to the James and Kryptonite situation. I'm sorry, but it still feels like she let a guy come between them. Kryptonite isn't some poison that _might_ kill a Kryptonian, it is a substance that _will_ kill a Kryptonian. It's not a bullet it's chemical warfare and she made it without letting the woman who's saved her ass more times than I know at the moment know about it? Just bad politics. Plus James has always annoyed me so anyone siding with him is like a slap in the face. That being said, Kara should have tried to have an honest conversation with her instead of employing that idiot for help. I mean, at least ask Alex if you're going to do something sneaky like that. Geez.
> 
> So that mess transfers here. I think they'll be ok but its gonna take some work. I love their friendship and genuinely hope that after Lena's done making her super soldiers this season, there's still something left to rebuild that relationship. Ooooohhh. I just gave myself an idea. Not involving Lena but.... hmmm...
> 
> Also, I hope I did that friends to lovers thing slightly believably? I didn't want Alex to jump headfirst into being in love, it doesn't work like that but near death experiences combined with the closeness previously shared warrants some kisses yes? Whatever, Kara needed some kisses dammit!
> 
> I really like writing Clark as an emotional teddy bear. Strongest man in the world being a Brony is my new Superman aesthetic.
> 
> Think that's it so... hope you liked it. Also added a drabblish piece to my oneshot series for anyone who's interested.
> 
> ~Chronicles


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